Alice Evans and the Order of the Phoenix
by hermymad
Summary: With a question mark still hanging over the Dark Lord's return Alice, Harry, Ron and Hermione must return to Hogwarts with a growing sense of unease. Events soon begin to spiral out of their control and for someone this year at Hogwarts will end in tragedy, with terrible consequences for everyone.


Home is Where the Heart Is

It was without doubt the worst birthday Alice had ever had, and not just because she found herself crouched alone and cramped on the stairs listening to shouting from the living room. It was much worse than that and had started long before.

The plan had been a simple one. Harry was to have arrived around midmorning, they would have had lunch, the three of them; Harry, Sirius and Alice, and then they would have had the afternoon to do what they wanted (play Quidditch probably) before having a small party in the evening. The problem wasn't that the plan had gone wrong so much as it had never had the chance to happen in the first place. That morning Harry had been attacked.

Alice didn't know all the specifics, largely because people were refusing to tell her; the only things she knew for sure were that Harry wasn't coming, the party had been cancelled and her birthday was on hold. Not that she cared, she just wanted to know what was going on. From what she had managed to gather listening at keyholes however, it sounded bad.

Harry hadn't been in his aunt and uncle's house when it happened he had been outside somewhere and had been attacked by a Death Eater. Who exactly it had been she wasn't sure, but then neither were the adults, she had heard much speculation from them as to the identity of the assailant and she didn't suppose they'd find out until someone spoke to Harry, whenever that was going to be. The next snippet of information she had been able to glean was that her brother had been expelled, how or why she hadn't a clue, but almost as soon as this bit of information had filtered through to her she overheard that Dumbledore had intervened and now Harry wasn't being expelled. Her latest reckoning of the whole affair was that Harry was being forced to stay with the Dursely's for his own protection as the enchantments there would keep him safe. Fat lot of good they had done so far.

It was largely because of this that Sirius was currently closeted in the living room with Hogwarts Headmaster and yelling at him loudly enough to alert the next village, which given that it was six miles away was quite a feat.

"I don't care what you think is for the best, Albus! Harry should be here where we can keep an eye on him, keep him safe. It's not as though those enchantments you've got in Little Whinging are doing him much good are they? He could have died today and it's damn lucky that he didn't."

"Now, Sirius," Dumbledore's voice was as soft and as measured as always. You could be forgiven for thinking he hadn't just spent the last fifteen minutes having his eardrums assailed by her irate godfather. "He is safer with his family, you know that."

"His family?!" Sirius roared. "What are Alice and I then? Old socks?!"

"You know what I mean Sirius," Dumbledore's voice remained calm, "the enchantments which protect Harry are not tied to Alice, but to his aunt, it is imperative he remain there for his own safety."

"Because that's worked fantastically so far." Alice could just imagine Sirius' scowl as he said this.

"Now, Sirius -"

"Don't now, Sirius, me. I'm not one of your students any more, Dumbledore. The fact is whatever charms you've got protecting Harry have failed. They didn't stop a Death Eater marching into Little Whinging and nearly killing him, and from what you've told me of these spells they only work if he stays shut up inside anyway and you can't possibly ask the boy to remain a prisoner for the rest of the summer."

"You exaggerate slightly Sirius, the spells are powerful and it was only because Harry was so far from his aunt and uncle's that they were weakened. The fact of the matter is that it would take months of spellwork, even by myself, to achieve the same levels of protection here as Harry has in Privet Drive."

"What if her were somewhere that had _years_ of protective enchantments upon it?" There was an odd note to her godfather's voice.

Dumbledore was silent for a moment. "I know how you feel about the place Sirius, I couldn't ask you to -"

"You're not asking me."

Alice leant towards the door, willing her ears to pick up sounds of movement so that she could build up a bigger picture of what was going on behind it. Sometimes she wished she had Harry's invisibility cloak so that she could just sneak into the room and watch unnoticed, then again her brother had once told her that he suspected Dumbledore could see through it. Her brother. Harry. Who had nearly been killed and no one was telling her anything, forcing her to lurk behind closed doors and attempt to decipher cryptic conversations.

"What about Alice?"

Her ears pricked up again as the Headmaster mentioned her name.

"She'll understand," Sirius responded. "I'll talk to her, and if she doesn't want to come… well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

"Very well, it is your decision Sirius, I will agree to Harry leaving the Dursley's only so long as he is going there. But for now, I'm afraid that I must be going. I have a meeting with Fudge at the Ministry, I received a rather agitated owl from him earlier today and I suspect he is rather upset about a lot of things. I will take my leave."

Hearing movement from behind the door Alice scurried up to her room where she remained even after she heard the click of the front door indicating that the Headmaster was gone.

"Alice," she heard Sirius' voice calling up the stairs.

Alice crept down again and sought out her godfather who was now sitting in the living room, staring contemplatively into the fire. On the wall an elaborate clock of gold and wood ticked repetitively overlaid by the insistent buzzing of a bee trapped somewhere in the room. On a table by the enormous chair Sirius had occupied there was a folded copy of the Daily Prophet and she could just make out the creased headline. _Tall Tales? The Truth About Potter's Disappearance. _"Yes?" She asked all too innocently. Had he realised she was snooping earlier? Did she really care? Surely she was justified in trying to find out what was going on considering no one would tell her?

"I want to talk to you about something."

Alice waited patiently for him to elaborate, but when he proceeded to stew in morose silence she soon found the need to prompt him. "Ok."

With a slight shake of his head Sirius was roused from whatever apathetic funk he seemed to have fallen into and glanced up at her.

"It's about Harry."

"I thought it might be." That got a slight smile from him.

"I'm sure you heard that Dumbledore was here."

Alice snorted. "I think half the county probably realised that Dumbledore was here."

"Hmph, well I need to talk to you about it."

And about time too, Alice thought.

"Since Harry's attack -"

"Which you still haven't told me about properly," she cut in.

Sirius gave her an assessing look. "If you are about to pretend you haven't been listening at keyholes then don't even bother. You are James' daughter and you're far too friendly with the Weasley twins not to have picked up a few tricks."

Alice stayed quiet, but there was a smile playing about the corners of her mouth. She quickly sobered again once Sirius began to speak.

"I want him out of Little Whinging. I feel, and I'm sure you do too, that he will be much safer surrounded by wizards who can protect him, and happier with people who actually care about him, than he ever will be with his aunt and uncle. Dumbledore disagrees... somewhat. He doesn't feel this place is protected enough, so if we want Harry to be with his family then… then we'll need to go somewhere that will be."

There was a pause which turned into a silence and Alice realised he wasn't going to explain any more.

"Which is where?"

"To my parents old house. To Grimmauld Place. It has the highest security of almost any building other than Hogwarts or Gringotts."

"Alright," Alice agreed instantly. It was a no brainer really. Stay here for the rest of the summer without Harry whilst her brother was stuck with the Dursley's or go to some unknown house, formerly the residence of Sirius' dark relations, and have her brother's company for the rest of the summer? Harry won that particular competition every time.

"Are you sure?" Sirius pushed. My… Grimmauld Place isn't like your usual wizarding home. It's not like here or the Burrow. My father was a paranoid lunatic who insisted on the highest and most dangerous security. Parts of that old place will kill you as soon as you step on a floorboard wrongly and as for my mother. I don't think I've ever meant a more unpleasant, repugnant, foul – well…" he cleared his throat awkwardly, "she wasn't exactly the loveliest of people. There's a reason, more than one actually, that I left that house when I was sixteen."

Alice just looked at him stubbornly.

Sirius smirked and muttered something about parental similarities as he ran a hand across his eyes. "Ok," he blinked tiredly at her. "We'll get packed up and move as soon as we can. Then hopefully Dumbledore will let us rescue Harry."

It took Alice a grand total of five minutes to throw her belongings into her trunk. Literally. Archimedes watched her critically from his perch atop the curtain rail as three jumpers, a shelf-full of books and five odd sock were jumbled together. Two sets of school robes were deposited on top for good measure.

"Make sure you have everything you need," Sirius remarked as he walked past her open door. "It's a while till term starts and you'll need all of your things to take to Hogwarts on top of that."

Alice glanced at her trunk, heaved an exaggerated sigh and then redid the entire process. "Is that better than?" She asked the owl as she folded the last pair of trousers and laid it on top of her belongings. With a few exceptions she had managed to fit nearly everything she owned into the trunk. It was neat, precise and much more up to her usual standards than the haphazard muddle she had tossed in earlier.

If she had been given her way they would have set off straight away for Grimmauld Place, wherever it was; Sirius still wasn't telling. They had to wait, according to her godfather, until the following day so that arrangements could be made. What these were she neither knew nor cared. Alice took herself off to bed early so that the next day would come all the sooner. In reality what happened was that she lay wide awake for hours more, tossing and turning, worrying and wishing by turns so that in the morning she emerged from her room a bleary-eyed, irritable mess.

"Can't we go now?" She asked Sirius the moment breakfast was finished and she had cleared away the dishes.

"Have patience," he responded. "We need to arrange things first. Remus will come here to keep an eye on the house and certain precautions need to be taken with my parents' old place. Remember, I said parts of the house are dangerous. Someone needs to go in and make it liveable first."

So Alice waited. Grudgingly. Every minute was torture, especially since she wasn't even allowed to go far from the house which meant flying was utterly out of the question. Every five minutes she would demand of Sirius when they were leaving and receive an increasingly exasperated reply. Eventually her godfather set her to packing up things they would need from the kitchen, supplies, pots, pans, that sort of thing. As Sirius said, he wouldn't eat from anything that had been languishing in that kitchen for the last ten fifteen years. By the time Alice had to spend a second night in her bed she was almost tearing her hair out. She had never thought she would want to leave her home so much.

Finally, and thankfully, they departed the next morning. Sirius apparated and Alice clung onto him for dear life with the arm not occupied in holding onto Archimedes cage. The owl didn't seem overly impressed by the new mode of transport. When the world had stopped whirling she found herself standing in a dull, grimy and rather smelly street. The dullness, despite the fact it was the beginning of August and the sun was high in the sky, could be attributed to the high walls of the buildings set either side of the narrow street, the smell from the pile of rubbish bags they had only narrowly avoided apparating into. It certainly wasn't what Alice had been expecting. By all accounts the Black's had been a prominent and affluent wizarding family, albeit a bigoted and completely mental one. She had pictured their residence as being somewhere... well, cleaner, if she was honest. Somewhere that reflected that wealth.

"It's not any better on the inside," Sirius commented wryly catching sight of her expression.

"I never said a word," she responded solemnly.

He was right however, inside wasn't much of an improvement. Dank walls met dusty floorboards, covered with stale, moth-eaten carpets. As they shuffled inside the floor creaked wearily beneath her feet and the smell of something... disused and ancient filled her nostrils. Gas lamps flickered like ghoulish eyes from the high walls.

"Come on," Sirius looked edgy and skittish, his eyes roaming over the musty rooms, reminding her of the man who had escaped Azkaban. "I'll show you to your room."

Obediently she followed him up the stairs, pausing at the foot to turn towards a set of thick, heavy curtains adorning the wall. It couldn't have led to a window, not considering the location of the house in the street, but all the same she was sure she could hear something muffled struggling to emerge from behind it, as though someone were shouting far away and she couldn't quite make out the words. Sirius never once broke his stride so she scrambled to follow him.

As she followed him through the house Alice found herself turning several times as something flickered in the corner of her vision; a shadow or a puff of air. It was as though the house was breathing. As she heaved her suitcase and the cage up, Alice craned her neck over the banister to see how far the spiralling staircase actually went, it must have gone up for at least three or four floors and looking down she saw that it went down further than it should. There must be additional floors below the street level too.

"Here we are." Sirius broke through her daze by opening a door on the landing they found themselves on. You can sleep in here. It's been cleaned up a bit, but still..."

"It's lovely." Alice struggled over the word as she stepped in. Someone had obviously dusted recently, wide clean stripes marked the surface of the chest of drawers, the dresser, where she placed Archimedes, and the mantelpiece revealing the dark mahogany beneath the ghostly layer. A broad double bed stood in the middle of the floor, emerald curtains, faded with age hanging from the ornate frame, the bed sheets however, were cotton and flaming red. Clearly Sirius, or someone, had attempted to make her feel at home.

Putting her case down on top of this Alice crossed to the window and attempted to heave it open; it stuck halfway. Still it did allow a wisp of fresh air to creep into the room. Glancing around she saw her shadowy reflection in the spotted, speckled mirror looking distinctly sceptical. Quickly she schooled her face to cheerfulness. This would be a small sacrifice to allow Harry to come and live with them again.

Smiling winningly at her godfather, she told him, "I'll have it spruced up in no time." She meant it too. As Sirius clattered around the house, brooding sullenly and doing goodness knows what, Alice found her way down to the austere, yawning kitchen, located an underused bucket and rag, before traipsing back up to her new room. For the rest of the day she scrubbed, rung, and swept, battering the curtains to within an inch of her lives to remove dust, until the room was deemed liveable. Archimedes, who had been let out of his cage and immediately assumed his customary position on top of the nearest wardrobe, watched her critically, hooting occasionally when she missed a spot. By dinner time she was exhausted and the minute she had finished her meal, kindly provided courtesy of Sirius, she collapsed into bed and fell asleep.

The next morning she was woken by the sound of gently knocking and someone calling her voice.

"Ali, Al, come on, wake up."

She sat up bleary eyed and disorientated, trying to work out where she was.

"Alice, come on. There's someone here to see you."

At that her eyes flew wide and she bounded from the bed to the door in two broad leaps.

"Har – Hermione!" Her expression turned to one of surprise as she saw her best friend loitering nervously behind her godfather.

"There's no need to sound so shocked," Sirius hissed from the corner of his mouth. Alice threw him a glare as she sidestepped him and enveloped her friend in an enormous hug.

"It's so good to see you – I didn't expect... what are you doing here?"

"I got your letter about Harry, and I wanted to come and visit so... here I am!" Hermione smiled tentatively as though suddenly doubting he wisdom of her decision. "Do you mind?"

"Mind?! Of course I don't mind you daft twit! It's great to see you. You will stay won't you? She can stay, can't she?" Alice turned to Sirius, eyes shining out from beneath her tousled curls.

The first laugh Sirius had probably ever initiated in that house tumbled from his lips. "Why not?"

A hearty breakfast of sausage and eggs soon drove away the last vestiges of sleep which hung to Alice's pyjama-clad body. Between forkfuls she filled Hermione in on events, or the events she had covered only sketchily in her letters. Afterwards her day followed much the same routine as the one before except she had a bit more help and the room she was attempting to make liveable was for her brother. Hermione's presence drove the task on tremendously and even Sirius was forced to help out so that by mid-afternoon there were at least two places in the forsaken old house which had some life about them. She saw no more of the flickering shadow that had dogged her steps the day before.

The cheerful mood that they had managed to keep up for most of the day was dashed however, when an owl arrived late in the evening from Mr Weasley. It informed them that Harry was to appear before a Ministry inquiry into his use of magic.

"Do you suppose Harry will get into awful trouble?" Hermione whispered that night as they got ready for bed. Since there was plenty of space the two girls were sharing a room. It was better than being alone in the drafty emptiness at any rate. "They can't do anything to him surely? The statute for underage wizardry allows magic in extreme circumstances if your life is in danger. So he didn't break the law at all."

"No, of course," Alice tried to inject more confidence into her voice than she felt. "He'll be fine, and we'll see him in the morning so we'll be able to keep an eye on him."

"Stop him from wandering into any more scrapes," Hermione's tone was reproving in the darkness as the two girls clambered under the blankets.

Alice snorted. "Hen-pecked more like!"

Hermione giggled and the two girls kept laughing until they fell asleep.

Alice's first inkling that her brother had arrived the next morning came when there was a loud clatter from the hall, several distant voices grunted and muttered among themselves as Hermione jumped up from the breakfast table with a squeal of delight. This was almost instantly drowned out by an endless, ear-piercing shriek.

"_THIEVES! THIEVES! BLOOD-TRAITORS! INTERLOPERS! MUDBLOODS AND BLOOD TRAITORS FOULING MY HOUSE! GET THEM OUT!" _The screeching bile poured forth from the hall where, after a confounded look at each other, the two girls sped off.

Once there everything was chaos, people were milling around everywhere, Sirius was yelling and hauling at the curtains which had hung against the wall as, and Alice had to blink at this, a grizzled and grubby house-elf danced around his legs. It was what lay behind the curtains that commanded her full attention however.

"_OUT!_" An old woman in a black cap raged out at them from the frame of a life-size portrait. Yellowing eyes rolled as she growled her hatred through crooked teeth. Other portraits were beginning to yell too as Sirius finally managed to haul the curtains together.

"Oh, shut up you miserable old bat!" he yelled, disentangling the house-elf from his legs as he did so with a rough flick. The elf went shuffling off into the dining room, muttering what she could only assume were curses under its breath.

Alice watched the entire exchange from the top of the stairs, her hand frozen on the banister and her eyebrows raised in bewilderment.

"Now," her godfather seemed to dust himself off and straighten his jacket. "Sorry about that everyone." He turned to the newly arrived group still clogging up the hallway. "Harry, lovely to see you m'boy!" He held out his arms and stepped forward to give Harry, who Alice had completely forgotten about up until this point, a hug.

The minute he had released him Hermione ducked in to choke any remaining life from his lungs.

"Alright, Hermione," he spluttered, patting her on the back and prizing her gently away. "I'm fine, you can let go now. Alice!" He grinned, spotting her.

"I'm glad you're here too," she grinned at him, "I'll not strangle you to prove it." Everyone seemed to have made the decision to ignore the hysterical portrait so Alice decided she might as well join in the charade.

"Let's move this into the kitchen, shall we?" Alice didn't miss the cautious glance Sirius gave the smothered portrait as he suggested this.

The group trooped obediently down the stairs and for the first time Alice paid attention to someone other than her brother. Rather surprisingly, since she had only seen him the previous morning and he hadn't mentioned he would be fetching Harry, Remus was there. He smiled at her and nodded. Mad Eye Moody was there too and she timidly greeted her former professor; there was a young woman with a sweet face and impish smile – and a considerable quantity of shockingly pink hair; a towering, wizard sporting a single gold earring and whose bald head gleamed in the light of the pale gas lamps who was currently engaged in conversation with her godfather. Three other wizards were there too, one in an enormous orange top hat almost as large as the man himself, a gentleman with sandy hair and an old man who seemed to wheeze with every step he took; taking up the rear was a witch dressed in emerald green and appeared to be a younger, less stern looking version of Professor McGonagall.

As they all shuffled into the kitchen and there was a general scraping of chairs Alice busied herself fetching the kettle as Hermione rooted around in the cupboard for cups.

"Can't stay long, Sirius mi'lad," one of them was saying. "Got to be off again. I'm on duty tonight."

Once tea had been brewed and the cups distributed Alice tucked herself into a chair next to her brother. Unusually for someone who had nearly been murdered and expelled in the last few days, he was grinning broadly.

"What are you so cheery about?" She asked.

"Nothing," he continued grinning. "Just glad to be back."

Alice smiled back conspiratorially. "How've you been?" She sobered as she spoke.

"Not too bad," he shrugged, the smile slipping from his face. "Could have been better I suppose."

Hermione snorted loudly from her seat opposite them. "Honestly, you two could win prizes for understatement."

The twins glanced at each other. They didn't mean to do it really, but conversation was unnecessary at times. Alice knew that Harry didn't want to talk about things in front of an audience, but that he was worried about things and perhaps a little angry too. She also realised that nothing would stop him feeling happy at being back where he belonged in the wizarding world and away from the Dursley's. He knew that she was concerned and didn't want to show it.

Hermione understood all this too, she was just frustrated by it.

"So," Alice changed the subject slightly, "who are all these people?"

Harry grinned again at that. "My rescue party. They tricked the Dursley's into going away for the weekend and broke in to get me here. It was brilliant!" He didn't seem in the least bothered about why he had needed rescued in the first place.

Before she could think up a suitable response, they were interrupted. "I don't believe we've met before." The pink haired woman on the other side of Harry suddenly leant across and extended her hand, nearly sending his tea flying in the process. "I'm Tonks. Very pleased to meet you."

"You too, I'm Alice," Alice murmured in response as her hand was vigorously wrung. "This is my friend, Hermione."

The two exchanged hellos. "You have an amazing hair colour by the way," Tonks informed her, "do you mind if I borrow it for a bit?" And without explaining this rather bizarre question she promptly screwed up her nose in concentration and her bubble-gum pink locks faded to a deep red.

Alice's jaw dropped open.

"How did you do that?!" Hermione almost squealed in curiosity. "Oh, wait! Are you a Metamorphmagi?"

The moment that Tonks confirmed that she was indeed a magical shape-changer, Hermione began to bombard her with questions, forestalling any further conversation. Alice smiled and settled back with her tea, glancing around the room at all the other wizards who were slowly filtering towards the door, bidding goodbye to Sirius and Harry as they went. She assumed Dumbledore must have sent them to rescue her brother; she would have to ask him. It was just one of a great many questions she wanted answered and now that she knew Harry was safe she wasn't going to hold back in doing so.

A/N: So we're back with Book 5! Bit of a slow start I know, but I wanted to set everything up before we dived back in with everyone!


End file.
